News in English about Cuba focusing on Human Rights but including general news relevant to the issues.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Protests mark decade of LGBT activism in Cuba

Protests mark decade of LGBT activism in Cuba

Calling for same-sex marriage, Cubans have chanted "revolution yes,
homophobia no" in the streets of Havana. Until the early 1980s, gays and
lesbians were routinely rounded up and forced to work in labor camps.

Hundreds of Cuban nationals gathered in the streets of central Havana on
Saturday to protest homophobia and demand the introduction of same-sex
marriage.
Waving the Cuban flag and rainbow banners, protesters chanted
"revolution yes, homophobia no" as they marched down the seaside
promenade of Malecon.
Mariela Castro, LGBT activist and daughter of Cuban President Raul
Castro, joined the protesters, saying that a proposal to legalize
same-sex marriage has been under discussion for years and could be
introduced at the next Communist Party congress.
Mariela Castro, who heads the National Center for Sexual Education, said
the government needed to do more for the LGBT community, given its
history of persecution.
From the 1959 revolution that marked the country's seismic
transformation to a communist nation through to the early 1980s, gays
and lesbians were considered deviants, routinely rounded up and forced
to work in labor camps.

Mariela Castro, one of Cuba's most visible LGBT activists, joined the
protesters to call for more rights
'Most important thing'
The demonstration also marked the 10th anniversary of the Cuban
Conference against Homophobia and Transphobia, which has pushed the
government to officially recognize the LGBT community and secure its rights.
Francisco Rodriguez, LGBT activist and journalist at the state-owned
newspaper Trabajadores, said while several issues still needed to be
addressed, progress had been made over the past decade.
"Perhaps the most important thing that has been achieved in these 10
years is to make the public aware of the issue, and also to ensure that
it is no longer politically correct in Cuba to be homophobic or
transphobic," Rodriguez said.
In 2010, former Cuban President Fidel Castro, who led the country's
revolution, described the repression of the LGBT community under his
watch as a "great injustice."